Maggie TaylorCEO / Producer

Maggie has a background in Shakespeare, photography and film:

Maggie was born in the UK but also lived for some time in the US and in New Zealand where she trained as a teacher and was an exhibiting photographer with Photoforum while gaining an MA in Film Studies from the University of Auckland.

In 1993 while researching Derek Jarman’s version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1979) at the British Film Institute she was invited to meet the director and to attend his preview screening of Blue. After Jarman’s death in 1994 she was asked by the BFI to present a special screening of The Tempest at the National Film Theatre in London and in 1995 she returned to the UK to work with Don Boyd, the producer of The Tempest. She also lectured and published on Jarman’s work as well as programming a series of New Zealand films with film specialist Dr Ian Conrich.

In 1996 she joined the New Producers Alliance and attended the Cannes Film Festival for the first time. In 1998 she set up her own company Double Scorpio Productions and decided to focus on adaptations, optioning several novels including Barbara Else’s NZ best-seller The Warrior Queen and Jill Paton Walsh’s The Serpentine Cave. She also developed Tanya Lees’ original treatment / script for Taboo which was later awarded Sources 2 funding as well as development funding from Screen South.

Maggie organised a rehearsed reading of The Serpentine Cave script at BAFTA with actors Anna Massey, Sinead Cusack, Julie Cox and Hugh Dancy and the project was awarded Cornwall Film development funding. Under the DSP/ Double Scorpio banner she is currently in financing with The Serpentine Cave with Jamie Payne (Lifeline, Primeval, Dance of Shiva) attached to direct.

Maggie regularly attends industry events and festivals in the UK and abroad. She recently attended the Frankfurt Book Fair with the NPA delegation and is currently negotiating the option on a best-seller she found at the Fair.

She has also just set up Corazon Films with producer Anita Lewton (Lemon Crush / Baxter’s Island), is an Executive Member of the New Producers Alliance, is on the Academic Council of the Centre for New Zealand Studies at Birkbeck, University of London and is a member of BAFTA.

John WestFilm Accountant - EIS Scheme

Based in London, West & Co have twenty years of experience of providing accounting expertise for many British film and television production companies. John West has recently registered DSP for the Enterprise Investment Scheme, initially for The Serpentine Cave project.

Andrew CurtisFilm Lawyer / CEO of Drew & Co / Producer

Andrew was a founding member of the New Producers Alliance and began his legal career in film at Russell’s. He set up Drew & Co in 2000 and is a member of BAFTA. He recently produced the acclaimed documentary Living Goddess, screened recently on MORE 4 and is in post production on Bob, Bono, Brian and Me.

Ivan LeveneScript Editor

Ivan worked as a Development Executive for Alibi Films before becoming a scriptwriter and script editor. He acts as a script editor for a number of UK and Canadian production companies and also lectures on script writing courses at various universities in the London area.